Aragami (2003)

A raging god of battle and a master samurai duke it out in a series of sword fights in a remote temple.

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Shôichirô Masumoto (story), Ryûhei Kitamura,

Stars:

Takao Osawa, Masaya Katô, Kanae Uotani

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Takao Osawa	...	The Samurai
Masaya Katô	...	Aragami / Tengu / Miyamoto Musashi
Kanae Uotani	...	The Woman
Tak Sakaguchi	...	The Future challenger
Hideo Sakaki	...	The Samurai's Friend

Storyline

Ancient Japan. Fleeing from enemies, two wounded samurai arrive at a strange old temple in a remote location in the mountains. The doors to the place are opened by a beautiful and exotic woman, who beckons them inside. Unable to walk any further, they collapse from exhaustion. One of the samurai awakens to find himself miraculously healed. He meets his saviour, a mysterious man who tells him that his friend died from his wounds. The samurai is persuaded to stay the night. His host tells him the legend of the "Tengu", a goblin which is said to reside in the mountains dining on the flesh of men. He goes on to reveal the true name of the Tengu : Aragami. When the samurai asks if Aragami poses a threat to the temple, his host answers : "I am Aragami". The only way for the Samurai to leave the temple is to destroy Aragami.

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Plot Keywords:

samurai | sword fight | swordplay | minimal cast | character name in title

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Horror

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 April 2004 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Aragami - Furia samuray

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amuse, DUEL Film Partners, Micott

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min 70 min (Fantasy Film Fest)

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo DTS

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Yukihiko Tsutsumi and Ryûhei Kitamura each finished their contributions to the short film anthology Jam Films in record time. As a result producer Shin'ya Kawai gave the two directors a proposal to each create a feature length movie with only two actors, battling in one setting and filmed entirely in one week. The undertaking was called the Duel Project. This was Ryuhei Kitamura's result and Yukihiko Tsutsumi's 2LDK.

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Quotes

Aragami: Ninja stars are for losers.

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Connections

References Versus (2000)

User Reviews

"Ninja stars are for losers"

The director of VERSUS is back, and this time he gives us an old-school samurai sword-fighting flick. ARAGAMI was apparently made in 7 days as a challenge with a fellow director. Its minimalistic to the extreme: 3 actors, one big room as the only location, a plot structure as simple as it gets: dialogue - fight - dialogue - fight - dialogue - fight. And what fights! They're as hyper-kinetic, exciting and fun as the dialogue is bizarre & funny. ARAGAMI is 100& crowd-pleasing action. This one deserves to be a big international hit.